Detroit Institute of Arts Acquires Iconic Emma Amos Painting That Recently Appeared in Retrospective
Alex Greenberger, ARTnews
August 2022
Following her death in 2020 and a traveling retrospective, the influential painter Emma Amos has received a new level attention within the country’s biggest institutions. Further evidence of this trend arrived this week, when the Detroit Institute of Arts revealed that it had acquired an iconic work by her that had appeared in her retrospective.
Equals, a 1992 painting from a beloved series of works depicting falling figures, has now been added to the DIA’s collection via the museum’s Center for African American Art. It is the first painting by Amos to be added to the museum’s collection, and one of the few from this series to reside with an institution of DIA’s caliber. The work was among the highlights of her 2021 retrospective, organized by Shawnya L. Harris, that made stops in Athens, Georgia; Utica, New York; and Philadelphia.